The traditional featherbed has long been popular because of the sleeping comfort it provides. A typical featherbed is approximately six inches thick, and covers the top surface of the mattress. In use, a featherbed can be positioned on top of the lower sheet so that the user lies directly on the featherbed, or it can be positioned beneath the lower sheet. A conventional featherbed is filled with feathers and has a fill weight in the range of 5-17 pounds.
One significant disadvantage of featherbeds, however, is that they do get soiled, and they usually must be professionally dry cleaned. This is expensive and time-consuming. Attempts to conventionally wash a featherbed are typically not successful, due to capacity limitations of home laundering equipment. One attempted solution to the cleaning difficulty is to enclose the featherbed in a washable cover. However, use of a cover has not proven to be a satisfactory solution, as the featherbed is cumbersome and difficult to remove from and then re-insert into the cover. Further, the featherbed becomes difficult to fluff with a cover.
These disadvantages, particularly the difficulty and expense of regular cleaning of the featherbed and/or their covers, will tend to limit growth in sales of featherbeds in recent years.